Top-ranking national security representatives from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority held a clandestine meeting in Riyadh ten days ago to synchronize strategies and explore avenues for integrating a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority into governing the Gaza Strip, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported Monday morning, citing three sources with knowledge of the meeting.
The meeting in Riyadh included Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban, the director of the PA general intelligence service Majed Faraj, and their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, according to Ravid. Both Israel and the US were briefed on the meeting.
The Saudi, Egyptian, and Jordanian security officials told Faraj that the Palestinian Authority must undergo substantial reforms to reinvigorate its political leadership.
They specifically requested that if a new PA government is established, the incoming prime minister should be granted some of the authority that had been usurped by Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in recent years. The Saudi, Egyptian, and Jordanian representatives emphasized that these reforms are crucial for the Palestinian Authority to resume governance in Gaza following a post-war transition period.
During the meeting, Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser expressed the kingdom’s ongoing interest in advancing normalization with Israel. However, he underscored that progress would hinge on Israel taking tangible and irreversible steps toward establishing a path to a Palestinian State, even if its immediate establishment is not guaranteed.
Ravid was unable to receive official confirmation of his report from any of the participants’ embassies in DC. However, Ravid pointed out that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated at the World Economic Forum earlier this month that the Biden administration’s approach for post-war Gaza involves connecting the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia with the development of a framework leading to the establishment of a Palestinian State – an almost copy & paste version of the conclusion from the Riyadh meeting.
As you may recall, the Biden administration has been urging the Palestinian Authority to implement reforms to enable it to play a role in the Gaza Strip after the war. Simultaneously, the administration is pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to engage in discussions regarding the post-war plan for Gaza and explore the potential inclusion of the Palestinian Authority in a future government in the Strip.
